ESB MINI-COMPANY GET UP AND GO:Mini-Company gives TY students a chance to try out business ideas – and maybe even win a prize for entrepreneurial skills
THE MINI-COMPANY is a rite of passage for TY students. Over the years, students have sold sweets, shirts, study aids and everything in between, taking on roles such general manager, purchaser, sales, accounting, and marketing.
This year, up to 550 post-primary schools and 28,000 TY students are taking part in Get Up and Go, a comprehensive business skills courses sponsored by ESB Customer Supply.
Hannah Walsh, a 16-year-old student at St Wolstan’s Community School in Celbridge, Co Kildare, is CEO of Science Attack. Her group, consisting of 10 girls, has created a DVD for primary teachers to help them teach science. The DVD consists of six simple, easy-to-understand experiments, using products available in local supermarkets.
“Science needs to become a greater part of the curriculum,” says Hannah. “We’re really glad to have created a useful product.” Hannah’s group faces stiff competition from her classmate, 16-year old Pamela Drumgoole. Pamela is part of KeyZ-PZ, which has created a system for making key-rings easier to open. The group has been selling it in school, on Facebook and eBay, and has also put a video on YouTube.
“It’s been interesting to be involved in KeyZ-PZ,” says Pamela. “In the early days there were some personality clashes but we’ve overcome them and everything is running smoothly now.”
David Healy, a 17-year-old student at Gortnor Abbey Secondary School in Crossmolina, Co Mayo, was involved in Quick Zip during TY. The business won first prize for quality in the Get Up and Go national finals last year. “One of the girls at the school – who would go on to become manager – came up with the idea,” he recalls. “She was going to a confirmation and couldn’t zip up the back of her dress, so she thought it would be great if someone came with a system. We developed and patented a prototype, took it to a trade fair, and won a prize in the accounts section. At the end of the year, the company was liquidated, because it’s too hard to keep going in fifth year. But it’s a good idea and there’s a good market for them, so we hope to start again during the Easter holidays.”
David’s schoolmate, 15-year-old Aisling Cronin, is company secretary in JME Enterprises, which prints T-shirts with jokes and chat-up lines.
“We’ve been securing orders for a trade fair today,” she says. “I was never interested in business before, but I really came to like the enterprise class. We’ve learned teamwork and organisational skills.”
Over at Marist College Athlone, last year’s TY group won second prize for originality with their mini-company, A Bite of Life for Less. “We put vegetable patches in people’s homes and talk to them about growing your own. I had a little bit of experience but we got a lot of help from the school caretaker, Liam Fallon. We’re going to continue the business, and we might do it on occasional Saturdays.”
This year’s TY group at Marist College have created Athlone School Day Trips, which organises day packages for school tours visiting the town. “There’s a Viking tour of the Shannon, Athlone Castle, the barracks, and the Glendeer Pet Farm,” says TY student and company manager David Hickey. “We can offer it cheaper and take a small commission.”
The Mini-Company Get Up And Go national final is on Tuesday May 4. See ty.slss.ie for more
